Fergie joy at Final place (AUDIO)

A night that was long time in coming, least of all to Sir Alex Ferguson. Nine years have passed since that glorious night at the Nou Camp, it was its incumbents Barcelona which provided the scene this time around.

United are going to Moscow and a nervous, packed Old Trafford crowd had the jitters ever since Paul Scholes scored a sumptuous half volley from 25 yards out after 13 minutes. The veteran was promised even before the match a spot in the starting lineup should they reach the final after his suspension heartache in 1999. And what a way to repay his manager.

All this without the services of Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic. So a makeshift back four with Wes Brown in the middle and Owen Hargreaves on the right, with Carlos Tevez supported by Cristiano Ronaldo in attack, was enough to fend off a fading Barca side. Two years ago they were head and shoulders above the rest, simply the best team in Europe.

On this showing, they were a one man team and that man was Lionel Messi. If anybody was to get them back in this it was the 20-year old Argentinian with countless runs where no United player could get near him, alas the lack of a cutting edge cost the Spaniards.

Despite the performance not being the most creative from the home side's point of view, they won't care. They've maintained a 100% home record this season in the Champions League without conceding a goal and are off to Moscow for the final in three weeks time.